Justin Bieber Anne Frank Controversy: The Deeper Meaning

Justin Bieber ignited a controversy recently when he wrote in the guestbook of the Anne Frank House, “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.”

It didn’t take long for people to attack the 19-year-old. Here are a few responses:

Justin Bieber said he hoped Anne Frank would have been a fan. I really want to kill myself.

You might argue that Bieber is like any other teenager, except he’s growing up in the spotlight — but that’s the problem. He can say or do anything and immediately, thousands (if not millions) of fans will tweet him instant messages of support. That creates fertile ground for a dangerously big ego.

However, the backlash against Bieber might be a tad unfair. A source told E! News that Bieber’s comment didn’t come out of nowhere.

“One of the guides pointed out that Anne was a big fan of pop culture of her time and that she might have been a fan of his, which led to what he wrote,” the source said.

Plus, the Anne Frank House isn’t upset about Bieber’s comment.

“We think that what’s special is that a 19-year-old comes to the Anne Frank House and spends an hour visiting on a Friday night,” Anne Frank House spokeswoman Maatje Mostartsaid.

“He could be doing other things in Amsterdam, he was very interested,” she continued. “That’s more important than the commotion that we’re now seeing. That’s the positive side and we want to leave it at that.”

Clearly, Bieber was doing the right thing by visiting the house and learning about history — and if this whole controversy teaches some of his fans about Anne Frank, then perhaps it’s all for the best. It was soon revealed that many of the fans who jumped to Bieber’s defense don’t know who Anne Frank is. Facepalm, I know — but maybe they’ll get a much-needed history lesson.